I started a business in America, now I’m leading it from India because I can’t get a visa. I’m Sumit Suman, and today, I’m taking part in the March for Innovation. AMA.

You were sent an RFE, and didn't have the capital to complete it? Tops, you're looking at $1-2k to work with a lawyer to file the RFE.

I think there's more to your story than you're telling us. Like, possibly that you don't meet the criteria for getting the visa.

You talk about starting a business in the US and staying there. But your business is actually located in Bangalore.

I have two questions, the first is a two-part question:

1. Why was responding to the RFE so onerous that you decided to waste your apparently huge immigration investment? Is it possible that the reason for the high cost is that you didn't meet the criteria, not that the process is onerous?

2. You claim to be starting a business in NY and Bangalore. Yet your employees are all in Bangalore. Were you planning on having any of your operations other than sales and marketing in NY?

1. We had already invested too much capital (lawyer costs + payroll taxes) from day one of our business. When it came to RFE, we decided to call it a sunk cost and withdraw the application. As for the application eligibility is concerned, there is no clear guideline on it and I can't comment on whether I met the criteria -- our lawyer felt it was a strong application.

2. Two of our cofounders were in New York. The whole back end was coded here, and we would have grown tech team here as well. Sales and marketing, of course!

When I read your story I thought "Well, if everyone whose business lives would be easier in the US were granted a visa, we'd have half the world's population." Any thoughts on this?

We chose US (New York), because I went to graduate school here, had worked here, and had developed a support system here.

If you could get a visa today, would you move your business here?

Yes. I'll move, and we will grow the US team. From a business perspective, it makes sense for us be in US. The market is more mature, users are more mature, the ecosystem is unparalleled, and it is easier to raise capital.

However, we will continue growing the India team as well, as it has its own advantages and my cofounder lives here.

Have you heard of http://blueseed.co/ ? They're a group that wants to buy a cruise ship and station it 12 miles off the coast of Silicon Valley. That way anyone in the world can create a startup near the resources of Silicon Valley without the need for visas. What are your thoughts on this?

I'm not sure if it's for me. I'd love to live in a place, where I can grow as well. I love cities, and hope to have a life outside of the startup too. I chose New York, because I went to school there and had the support system in place.

Blueseed might be interesting for short term -- which startups can anyways do on a more relaxed business visitor visa, often with help from accelerators.

Are there resources available for those who cannot afford expensive lawyers to file their visa?

It felt like a very detailed application, and better lawyers increase the chances of your application successfully navigating what seems like a very subjective process. Also, significant amount of paperwork was required.

I could not have filed my application without my lawyer's support.

Have you looking into moving to Canada?

http://business.financialpost.com/2013/05/17/canada-looks-to-poach-silicon-valley-entrepreneurs-struggling-with-u-s-immigration-woes/

I think its targeted exactly to people in your situation.

It looks like a very bold and great move. For us, the additional consideration is whether it is worth the effort to maintain the team in two places -- does Canada, the ecosystem & the market, offer enough benefits to justify that. US certainly justifies it. Probably too early to call for Canada.

How many jobs have you created in India?

Including my cofounder, 3 people have worked for Mentii in India.

What level-jobs are these? What education is required, and can America supply that talent?

Certainly! 2 developers (Ruby on Rails, Javascript) and 1 designer. Great guys.

America is the largest pool of such talent -- we are confident that we could attract a great team there too!

Have you read the gang-of-eight proposal, and if yes, what are your thoughts on that proposal ?

Yes. I like the proposal. It removes the biggest ambiguity around entrepreneur visa. At least, it will become crystal clear on what we need. I hope that will also lower legal costs as standard, clear cut guidelines means startups could use more templatized documents.

There are aspects of the proposal that could be debated. Particularly, whether it will force immigrant entrepreneurs to be dependent on venture capital. However, that is a whole new debate!

Thanks for doing this! What do you think you could have accomplished if you hadn't been dragged down by the immigration process?

The money could have made a big difference. Particularly in the early stages. We could have added more resources to the team. It could have speeded up the design and development of the product, and would have given us additional time to go to the users. We could have spent a bit on marketing too.

It is hard to quantify what impact it could have made -- but you can imagine what a 3 person team early stage team could do with additional & significant capital!

And more importantly, the continued uncertainty around where I was going to be was a emotional distraction for the whole team.

What is the biggest obstacle in working with people from New York while living in India? What makes your e-commute most difficult?

It's hard to grow the culture, and feel like a team. Specially early in our lifecyle, when we need to take quick decisions throughout the day.

We can certainly manage one off efforts remotely, at a later stage, but those would be need based exceptions.

Why do you feel it's important to bring business to the United States? I mean, why not leave the U.S. and help spur economic growth elsewhere?

US gives the best ecosystem, and market for a startup like ours. The chances of succeeding are higher there, and in the process it ends up being win-win for both startups and US.

Having said that, I take a very capitalist view on it. If the cost of doing business is too high in the US, we will take it elsewhere.

Thank you everyone for participating in the AMA. I really appreciated the thoughtful questions, and enjoyed answering them. This is a very important issue, and needs all the support it can get.

Best wishes!

What should my plan B if my h1 is rejected?

I think you should consult a lawyer. Every case is unique, and it is hard to give a blanket answer.